In many power drive systems, when the primary drive motor stops, the entire system shuts down. Often, it is difficult to restart the system anew from the stopped condition or it is important to keep the system running at a slow speed. For example, conveyor systems in mining and other industries require large drive motors to move heavy loads and, when such conveyors are operated in cold weather environments, the conveyors may ice and actually freeze in the stopped position. In such systems, there is a need to provide a low speed secondary drive to continue to move the conveyor belt during idle time to prevent freeze up.
Previously, over-running clutches have been used to directly interconnect the low speed drive to the primary drive system. However, such over-running clutches have not been well suited to interconnect with a chain or sprocket driven low speed secondary drive motor. Previously known over-running clutches have not been conducive to use outdoors and in adverse environmental conditions.